


Sights Unseen: The Fifth Race

by aadarshinah



Series: Sights Unseen [20]
Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Ancient John Sheppard, Ascension, Episode: s02e15 The Fifth Race, Gen, Hallucinations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 12:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1898523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aadarshinah/pseuds/aadarshinah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing Moment's from SG1's "The Fifth Race"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sights Unseen: The Fifth Race

**Author's Note:**

> A series of canon-compliant missing moment's from Stargate: SG-1's first three seasons, with an eventual end towards Sam/Jack. Part of the Locality universe - and this one is a bit of a crossover with my [Ancient!John 'verse](http://archiveofourown.org/series/11336). 
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, you don't have to read that to understand this. All you need to know is that in it 1) John Sheppard has always been an Ancient by the name of Iohannes, and 2) he spent a good deal of time Ascended and attempting to meddle in the affairs of certain people. If you've read AJ, this takes place for John roughly during the events of [Sator](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1359856/chapters/3328838).
> 
> Picks up _in media res_ , shortly after Jack has put the new addresses into the computer.

**13 February, 1999 – Stargate Command, Earth, Milky Way**

 

“Hey, Jack.”

There is a figure standing next to Daniel’s desk, where no figure had been a second before. He’s all in black, wearing a pair of ridiculous leather boots that come up to his knees and on oddly ridged brigandine with more laces than any one garment really needs. Over this he’s thrown a sleeveless robe edged and trimmed with elaborate silver embroidery that reminds him of something he’s never seen. His hair is just as dark, in a style that might be called _rakish_ at best and _against regulations_ at worst, but his eyes are bright and entirely too old for his face.

“Great,” he groans, letting himself sink back into the chair he’s dragged into the darkest corner of Daniel’s office and claimed for his own for as long as he’s got some alien language knocking about his brain. “Now I’m hallucinating.”

Daniel, absorbed in his printouts, doesn’t look up as he asks, “What was that?”

“I said-“

The figure chuckles, as if genuinely amused. It seems strange to have a hallucination laughing at him. Jack had somehow thought that any hallucinations he might have would be as contemptuous of him and his species as all the advanced races they’ve stumbled across in their travels. He suspects Freud – and Doctor Frasier – would have a lot to say about that if he ever mentioned that belief.

“He can’t understand you,” the figure explains (unreasonably helpfully for a hallucination in Jack’s opinion). “Your brain has lost the ability to speak your own language and gained the ability to see me clearly. It’s all a bit of a trade-off at your level of evolution. Sorry about that. Father never really thought these things through when I wasn’t there to knock some sense into him.”

“Your father?”

“You don’t need to speak out loud. It sometimes makes it easier if you don’t, if you don’t want people to think you’re nuts. But my name is Iohannes Ianideus Icarus Pastor. Ianus, the fellow who built the _Clava Thessara Infinitas_ you stumbled into, was my father. He was also one of your ancestors, which is why the device activated for you – a nice bit of legacy for the grandkids with the right sequence of genes in their DNA. Unfortunately, Father forgot to program a way to check that your brain was evolved enough to handle the information. Like I said, sorry about that. He was always a bit hopeless without someone around to rein him in.”

Jack has no idea of what to make of half of this and decides he doesn’t want to know anyway. And so he asks, “Can you undo it?” as if his hallucination might actually have an answer.

The figure – Iohannes – shakes his head, appearing genuinely remorseful. It’s almost enough to make Jack for get that, no matter what this guy says, he probably _is_ a hallucination, and so he has no reason to trust a single word it – he – says.

“Then what good are you?”

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Iohannes admits, rather self-deprecatingly for someone that’s only in Jack’s head. “The last billion years or so have made _that_ painfully clear. But I _do_ know some folks that should be able to help you: the Asgard.”

“We’ve met.”

“Holograms don’t count as First Contact,” he snorts.

“Haven’t had enough to be snobbish about them, myself.”

Iohannes considers this. It’s rather disconcerting, if only for the fact it makes his eyes look even older than they already are. _Ancient_ , Jack would call those eyes; _eternal_ , maybe. He wouldn’t be surprised to find the heart of a star if he looked in them deeply enough, or a supermassive black hole of the sort Carter says exists at the centre of every galaxy. Jack never wants to get close enough to find out.

“True,” his hallucination says at last. “I can give you the address to the Asgard homeworld. They’ll be able to fix you right up. I won’t kid you, though: it will take some work to get there. Its a little bit farther than you folks are used to going yet. But we should be able to get you there with time to spare.”

It’s Jack’s turn to snort. “And why should I trust you? You’re only a hallucination.”

“Oh, Jack, I am far more than a hallucination.” Then, pushing away from Daniel’s desk (and passing through a desk lamp and half a rolling chair), he crosses the room to stand in front of him in two great strides. “But if you need proof, just remember: _ten equals eight_. Got that? _Ten equals eight_.”

Before Jack can ask what the hell _that_ is supposed to mean, Iohannes presses two fingers to his forehead. Something that can best be described as an egg cracks in his mind, cold yolks running everywhere and sticking to everything, and then a _thought_ hits him. Hard.

Jack stands up and goes for the chalk.

“Y’know,” Iohannes says, “I’m almost sorry you won’t remember this. It would’ve made things so much easier.”

When Jack turns to ask him what he means, his hallucination is gone and the chalkboard in front of him is filled with equations he can’t even begin to know the meaning of.

**Author's Note:**

> It's always been a pet theory of mine that the _[Clava Thessara Infinitas](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Clava_Thessara_Infinitas)_ Qetesh and Athena were looking for, as mentioned in "Momento Mori," were really the Ancient [Repositories of Knowledge](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient's_repository_of_knowledge). It seems unlikely to me that the Ancients would have a stash of weapons or technology anywhere that anyone else could find it, but their knowledge is another story, as we've seen with the the repositories...


End file.
